Alex Howes, the Golden native who won the final stage of the USA Pro Challenge after two tough second place finishes in earlier stages, has signed a contract extension with what will be the future Boulder-based Team Cannondale in 2015 and beyond.

The deal — confirmed by Garmin-Sharp manager Jonathan Vaughters on Sunday — is for three years and was signed a week before the Pro Challenge. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“He wanted to stay with the team. I wanted to stay with Alex,” Vaughters said. “He’s the only guy we have on a three-year deal.”

Howes, who rode and completed his first Tour de France in July, won a sprint finish down Broadway into downtown Denver after Garmin-Sharp led much of the way and chased down the breakaway through the city. He has been working with Vaughters since he was an original member of Team 5280 Magazine in 2003 at 14 years old.

“Alex was left alone the last part of the race — had no lead-out guy, nothing, because we had used up all our guns to create that situation in the first place,” Vaughters said. “But the thing is with Alex that makes him a really special rider is that when the team does an extraordinary effort like that and he knows he’s the beneficiary of that, he comes through. He comes through in high pressure situations when it’s all on him. He knows how to do it.”

Howes won’t end up being a rider like Tejay van Garderen, who finishes at the top of Grand Tours. He can’t do long sustained climbs well — the kind seen on Stage 3 — and his time trialing isn’t dominant. But in what Vaughters calls “middle mountain” races, like Amstel Gold in the Netherlands, he will be one of the better riders.

Tejay van Garderen played domestique Sunday. The Aspen rider already had the overall title of the USA Pro Challenge sewn up and was leading BMC Racing teammate Greg Van Avermaet to the finish line. Alas, it didn’t work. Slovakian Peter Sagan sprinted past the field for his fourth stage win.

“It’s always to try and pay back teammates for the work that they do throughout the week,” van Garderen said. “Greg, he’s just an amazing teammate. He has the capabilities of winning stages and win sprints. He got close on a number of occasions this week and got a stage win in the Tour of Utah a couple weeks ago.

Tejay Van Garderen of BMC Racing Team asks more voice to the fans on the podium after the 115.2 mile 6th stage of 2013 USA Pro Challenge in Fort Collins, Colorado on August 24, 2013. ( Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

FORT COLLINS — Tejay van Garderen is on his way to win the third annual USA Pro Challenge Sunday in Denver but it doesn’t make up for the 45th-place finish last month in the Tour de France. Highlighting this week, he finished Saturday here in Fort Collins where he graduated from Rocky Mountain High School.

“July is definitely the most important month in bike racing,” van Garderen said. “I’m having an incredible time here in Colorado. Being able to race on the roads I used to train on in high school, that was a dream. I was hearing my name called out so many times, it was unbelievable. So this is a special race for me.

“But that being said, this doesn’t make up for a poor July. I’m still hungry for the Tour. I still see myself as a Grand Tour rider and I want to come back to the Tour in the future and fight for a high GC (leader’s finish) and hopefully a couple of years down the line even wear the yellow jersey there.”

VAIL — Aspen’s Tejay van Garderen has about a minute and a half lead, not insurmountable in some stage races but likely impossible to beat in the USA Pro Challenge.

The remaining two stages are Saturday’s 115.2-mile course from Loveland to Fort Collins. It features a Category 2 climb (5 is the lowest) up 8,000-foot Devil’s Gulch but it’s in the middle of the race and nearly downhill from there.

Sunday’s stage is nearly ceremonial, similar to the final days into Paris in the Tour de France. It’s seven laps totalling 72.4 flat miles through Denver. Van Garderen can not possibly lose 90 seconds over those two stages.

VAIL — I saw George Hincapie on the podium before the Vail time trial Friday. After 19 years as a pro cyclist, he has resettled at home in South Carolina and started the Hincapie Development Team.

It took third in the first stage of the Tour of Utah two weeks ago and held the Young Rider Jersey for a few days. USA Pro Challenge CEO Shawn Hunter said there’s a good chance the team will be in next year’s race.

I asked Hincapie why he started the team.

“I grew up in New York and I got a lot of support from local businesses,” he said. “Cycling was expensive — it is expensive — and my parents didn’t have a lot of money. Without support, I couldn’t do what I did. Now doing what I do makes it all worth it.”

I asked if he’s putting in more hours now than when he rode.

“It feels like it,” he said. “Riding is different. You know exactly what you need to do. You train six days a week, then you recover. That’s all you have to do.”

He said the Vail time trial he did two years ago in the inaugural Pro Challenge was the hardest time trial he’s ever done. I asked what the hardest stage he ever did. He said it was a Tour de France stage in the early ’90s when he rode 8 hours, 45 minutes into Andorra.

So do you miss this?

“No,” he said. “It’s too hard.”

As he said that, Sky Proracing’s Richie Poole launched out of the starting gate and waved to Hincapie hello.

Cyclists leave downtown Aspen for Stage 2 of the USA Pro Challenge from Aspen to Breckenridge on Tuesday. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — It’s Stage 3 of the weeklong USA Pro Challenge, and I’m seeing some advantages this race has over the Tour de France. So here are the pluses and minuses the Pro Challenge has with Le Tour.

PLUSES

1. The towns. What? Yes, towns. OK, take Paris out of the equation. I love Denver, but when it comes to architecture, the Eiffel Tower has a wee bit over the Wells Fargo Center. Still, the towns the Pro Challenge race through in Colorado are more scenic. Much of it is because Colorado mountain towns are more modern and richer than ancient villes in France. I’ll take Aspen over Grenoble; Breckenridge over l’Alpe d’Huez. With the Yampa River meandering through this lovely town, Steamboat Springs has a ski pole up on any village I saw in the Pyrenees.

2. Weather. The hottest it has been this week has been low 80s and dry. At night it drops to about 60. It’s absolutely flawless. Saturday’s Loveland-Fort Collins stage is scheduled for 87 but I’m still recovering from the steambaths I’ve experienced in Provence.

The third annual USA Pro Challenge starts in 45 minutes and I chatted with Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of Boulder-based Team Garmin-Sharp. He says the favorites are down to four.

“I see my favorites as Tejay (van Garderen), (Garmin-Sharp’s Andrew) Talansky, (Garmin-Sharp’s) Tom (Danielson),” Vaughters said. “The three T’s. And I think Andy Schleck will do a little better than some people think.”

Peter Sagan of Slovakia riding for Cannondale Pro Cycling speaks during a pre-race press conference for the USA Pro Challenge at the Aspen Institute on August 18, 2013, in Aspen, Colorado. (Daniel Petty, The Denver Post)

ASPEN — Slovakian Peter Sagan has joined his Cannondale Pro Cycling team here at the third annual USA Pro Challenge, but no one really knows why. Sagan is a sprinter. The only sprinting in this week’s race may be to the recovery room. It features more than 40,000 feet of climbing at high altitude. The lone relatively flat stage is the final one next Sunday: eight laps of a 9.3-mile circuit around Denver.

“I’m here for the preparation,” said Sagan who has won four stages at the Tour de France and three at the Vuelta a Espana. “I want to do well in the last part of the year. There’s Montreal (Grand Prix), the World Championships. I’ll see how far I come. I’m here doing well at altitude training.”

A grand crew is checking the start gate of first stage of 2013 USA Pro Challenge race. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

SNOWMASS VILLAGE — I thought winning the Tour de France last month would take more out of Chris Froome mentally than physically but I didn’t think he’d admit he wouldn’t contend in this week’s USA Pro Challenge. But there he was on the podium here during team introductions Saturday night saying he didn’t consider himself a contender.

TV announcer Paul Sherwen asked him if he was here to win this race.

“Personally, no,” he said. “Hopefully, I can be here to help one of my teammates get the title. I’ve taken a bit of time off after the Tour and I’m going to try to use this race to try and get back into the swing of things and get ready for the World Championships.”

Froome was born in Kenya and raised in South Africa. Sherwen was raised in Kenya and lives in Uganda. They actually started the interview speaking Swahili. Froome, a modest, soft-spoken Brit, said finishing second to Sky Procycling teammate Bradley Wiggins in last year’s Tour de France helped him win this year’s.

That’s when embattled president Pat McQuaid runs for a third term against Brian Cookson, head of British Cycling, and the man Vaughters endorses. I covered cycling in the London Olympics and wrote a story about the renaissance of cycling in Great Britain and if Cookson can run the world’s cycling as he does his own country, Vaughters may be right.

Track cyclist Chris Hoy and time trial gold medalist Bradley Wiggins led a medal parade that put Great Britain atop the world in Olympic cycling. I can still hear the packed crowd in the steaming velodrome screaming, “Team GB! Team GB!” as tears poured down Hoy’s face on the awards stand.

Lance Armstrong awaits the start of the 2010 Cape Argus Cycle Tour in Cape Town, in this March 14, 2010 file photo.

I’m prepped to watch the Lance Armstrong interview Thursday night and am wondering if all his apologists out there in the media will do the same. I won’t name the ones I know. Some are my friends. Others have always been kind to me. But they know who they are and should be chewing off their flesh knowing the Lance Armstrong lies they spread. If they’re not at least kicking themselves, then they have less credibility than even I thought.

Armstrong’s dealings with the media were the oddest I’ve ever dealt with in this business. I covered the last three of his seven straight Tour de France titles, from 2003-05. I’ve dealt with few more engaging, introspective and, yes, at the time, honest athletes. But with Armstrong, a reporter was for him or against him.

Overall winner U.S. Lance Armstrong standing on the winners' podium after the 21st stage of the 92nd Tour de France cycling race in Paris, July 24, 2005.

While I’m sure Lance Armstrong’s sympathizers will continue to defend him because of his work with cancer victims, the rest of us can call him what he is — one of the worst cheaters in the history of sport.

If you aren’t persuaded by the news reports that have come out since USADA made its case against him public, I encourage you to read it for yourself. Read the USADA statement, then the Reasoned Decision. Here are two points I believe are crucial:

— From the Reasoned Decision: “Had Mr. Armstrong not refused to confront the evidence against him in a hearing, the witnesses in the case of The United States Anti-Doping Agency v. Lance Armstrong would have testified under oath with a legal duty to testify truthfully or face potential civil and/or criminal consequences.”

— From the USADA statement: “The riders who participated in the USPS Team doping conspiracy and truthfully assisted have been courageous in making the choice to stop perpetuating the sporting fraud, and they have suffered greatly. In addition to the public revelations, the active riders have been suspended and disqualified appropriately in line with the rules. In some part…it would have been easier for them if it all would just go away; however, they love the sport, and they want to help young athletes have hope that they are not put in the position they were — to face the reality that in order to climb to the heights of their sport they had to sink to the depths of dangerous cheating.

Fans cheer on the peloton as it moves through The Narrows in Boulder Canyon up Highway 119 toward Flagstaff Mountain.

BOULDER — Observations at the USA Pro Challenge after Stage 6 from Golden to Boulder:

* It doesn’t match the views coming up the French Alps or Pyrenees in the Tour de France, but the view going up Flagstaff Mountain must be the best in American cycling. To your left as you climb up you see a vast valley running along the Rocky Mountain foothills. From on top at the amphetheater where they held the press conference, you saw all of Boulder County. The University of Colorado’s campus never looked prettier.

Greg Crowson of Denver cheers on Tom Danielson during Stage 1 of the USA Pro Challenge from Durango to Telluride.

TELLURIDE — Some random observations of Stage 1 of the USA Pro Challenge from Durango to Telluride:

* You can’t beat Durango for a stage start, merely because there’s no better way to start any bike race than with fresh pastry. No place I’ve tried in Colorado has pastry like the Jean Pierre Bakery on Main Avenue right near the starting line. For two days I began my day with a warmed raspberry croissant. If I hadn’t driven my own car, I would’ve thought I was in the Tour de France.

* It’s probably a good thing Paul Sherwen and Phil Liggett started their NBC broadcast after the peloton passed through Stoner, Colo. I was wondering if that’s where the peloton had their feed zone. Then again, maybe they held it a few miles up the road in Munchies, Colo.

BAGNERES-DE-LUCHON, France — When you cover the Tour de France, you have three options. You can avoid the peloton and take the autoroute. That’s fast but French freeways aren’t any more picturesque than America’s. You may as well be covering the Tour de Nebraska.

You can do what I usually do and take side roads to the finish. That way you get the full flavor of the spectacularly charming French countryside and grab lunch at a cozy cafe without fighting off cycling fans falling into your escargot.

Or, you can get a full flavor of Le Tour by taking the race route. Covering only four days of this Tour, I chose the latter for Wednesday’s massive 118.2-mile Stage 16 from Pau to this beautiful mountain town the French call “The Queen of the Pyrenees.”

It was over four mountains, including the 6,800-foot Col du Tourmalet. Not seem so high, all you Fourteeners out there? Try climbing it with an average grade of 7.4 percent.

BAGNERES-DE-LUCHON, France — The misconception about covering the Tour de France is every day is spent picnicking among sunflowers, eating brie and fresh bread and drinking a nice Cotes du Rhone. Evenings are spent in cozy restaurants dining on delicious dishes you can’t pronounce because you can’t speak French and you can’t stop eating.

Here’s a little reality check: In a day featuring a 5 1/2-hour trek from Pau to Bagneres-de-Luchon, my entire food intake consisted of two pieces of bread and three energy bars. Oh, at 11 p.m. a bar on the Spanish frontier slapped together a salami and cheese sandwich right before closing. The one time you can make time is on Rest Day.

Naturally, that’s when I began my Tour de France.

Tuesday I was in Pau, a lovely 11th century city at the foot of the Pyrenees. I went to a restaurant right out of central casting for gourmet French restaurants. Au Fin Gourmet is across the street from Pau’s classically restored train station but is definitely not the other side of the tracks.

I walked past the octagonal dining room with the white tablecloths and straight outside where about a dozen tables were set below tall shady trees. It was about 75 degrees, the sun was setting and the night was as still as the Eiffel Tower.

I had cote de porc Ibaiona, thinly sliced pork with a thick, tangy local sauce that tasted like BBQ with a little less sweetness. Unlike some French restaurants in the States, this dish filled more than a child’s hand and every bite tasted as fresh as the Pyrenees’ mountain air in winter.

BAGNERES-DE-LUCHON, France — I have a great idea for Andy Schleck. I know he loves Colorado. Went fishing with his brother and teammate, Frank, before last year’s USA Cycling Challenge in Colorado. I know Colorado loves him. The squeals he and I heard during last year’s inaugural race made him look like the lead singer of a boy band.

While he’s recovering from that nasty pelvic injury, hoping to get a start in the Vuelta a Espana, here’s a more viable option.

Race again in Colorado.

It makes sense. Think about it. He hasn’t raced since that nasty spill in the Criterium du Dauphine June 7. However, a cycling insider here at the Tour de France told me Schleck is recovering quicker than people imagined.

If he does recover in time to race next month, what shot would he possibly have in a three-week Grand Tour? Does he really want to embarrass himself with the world watching?

Colorado is only seven days. It’s lower profile. He could contend. It would be a much better confidence builder leading into the World Championships, if he competes, than getting his butt kicked in Spain.

Race leader Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain waits at the start of stage fifteen of the 2012 Tour de France from Samatan to Pau on July 16, 2012, in Samatan, France.

PAU, France — Bradley Wiggins’ final march to history begins Wednesday. The first step toward Paris is one giant leap uphill from Pau to Bagneres-de-Luchon, a 118.2-mile grind which includes two HC-category (highest) climbs and two Category 1 (second highest).

Wiggins, seeking to become the first Brit to win the Tour de France, has a 2:05-minute lead over Sky Procycling teammate and countryman Christopher Froome. Wiggins leads by 2:23 over Italy’s Vincezo Nibali of Liquigas and 3:19 over Australia’s Cadel Evans, the defending champion from BMC Racing.

His opponents have one chance, Team Garmin-Sharpe CEO Jonathan Vaughters says.

Fans greet the peloton during stage fourteen of the 2012 Tour de France from Limoux to Foix on July 15, 2012 in La Bastide Sur-L'Hers, France.

PAU, France — I’m back in the French saddle again. I’m at the Tour de France after a three-year absence. I knew it was the Tour the minute after I picked up my rental car in Toulouse because I was lost within 30 seconds.

France’s roads are very unforgiving. You take a wrong turn onto the wrong freeway, known as autoroutes in France, and often it’s 20 miles before there’s another exit. I took the wrong entry road coming out of the rental car and I got myself an involuntary full-scale tour of Toulouse before I found my way east. I usually wait for certain signs to tell me I’m going the wrong direction, such as, say, “Welcome to Switzerland.”